Chicago rallies for kidnapped Nigerians: 'Bring back our girls'

Thousands of demonstrators are demanding the kidnapped girls from Nigeria be returned.

Thousands of demonstrators are demanding the kidnapped girls from Nigeria be returned.

Michelle ManchirTribune reporter

Hundreds of Chicago-area activists and parents, some with personal ties to Nigeria, rallied Saturday in the Loop to offer support and a voice for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped last month in the African country.

Shouting "Bring back our girls!" and holding up signs featuring the names of some of the captured girls – among them Aisha, Talata, Saraya, Rebecca – rally attendees called for more action to find the girls and to prevent another similar terrorist act.

"We need to get together and show terrorists we're going to stand as one against them," said Lande Sanusi, 43, of north suburban Wauconda, who said she is Nigerian-American and helped organize the gathering and march that began at the Richard J. Daley Center downtown.

The government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has faced criticism for its slow response since militant group Boko Haram stormed a secondary school April 14 in the village of Chibok and kidnapped the girls, who were taking exams. Fifty have escaped but more than 200 remain with insurgents. Earlier this month a Boko Haram leader threatened to sell the girls "in the market."

The United States, France, China, Britain and international police agency Interpol have all offered assistance. But those who gathered Saturday say the response was not fast enough, and more work needs to be done to ensure Nigerian girls don't face any more attacks and can safely get an education.

"Everyone needs to care about our young ladies, about our young men, about our future," said Carmen Colvin, 51, of Chicago, who marched with the group. "The young people of the world are our future."

Many of the hundreds of attendees were not apparently part of one organized group or assembly, though many members of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition were part of the crowd, organizers said. The group's founder, The Rev. Jesse Jackson, spoke at the meeting, as did U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago.

Some of the marchers, who held signs that said "Every girl deserves a future" and "Our world, our girls!" were parents with no family connection to Africa, but said they wanted to support the relatives missing their children.

"We felt this connection to what was going on," said Lynn Litwin-Beier, who brought her 12-year-old daughter and was among a group of about a dozen associated with the all-girl Sacred Heart Schools in Edgewater, where the kidnappings have been studied and read about in some classes.

"We all felt like we wanted to come out and stand and show support for the girls and their families, if nothing else in a spiritual way," Litwin-Beier said.

For the Nigerian-Americans in the Saturday crowd, the connection was even more personal.

Lois Usikalu, 13, of Plainfield, who was born in the U.S. but whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria, held a hot pink sign that said "It could have been me!" as she marched with her mother and brothers.

"If it was me I would've been in so much pain and just crying," Usikalu said. "I feel bad for the girls that are being kidnapped … I just want to (say) bring us back our girls."